Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - Beautiful sunny days can sometimes be a rarity in April in Minnesota, and the Bethel Royals literally took advantage of every minute of sunlight they could today. Bethel beat the Northwestern Eagles - and the impending darkness - 7-6 in the nightcap of their doubleheader today, but the Royals were not as fortunate in game one, despite mounting an incredible comeback to pull within a run before being stopped short at 13-12.

The Royals found themselves with their backs to the wall early in game one, trailing 9-0 at the end of two and a half innings of play. Then, in the bottom of the third, a pair of brothers made some things happen on the base paths. Bjorn Anderson (Jr., Arden Hills, Minn.) led off with a single to right field, stole second, and advanced to third on a ground out, bringing up Jay Slick (Fr., River Falls, Wis.). Jay singled to center to score Anderson, bringing up Jay's older brother, John Slick (Jr., River Falls, Wis.), who doubled to right field to score his sibling. The next batter, Erik Anderson (So., Arden Hills, Minn.), Bjorn's younger brother, singled to left field, bringing home John Slick to give Bethel its first three runs.

Northwestern tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth to take an 11-3 lead before Bethel really got the bats going in the bottom of the inning. The Royals sent 10 batters to the plate and put five runs up on the scoreboard before the inning was over. Bethel got RBIs from Tim Churchill (Jr., Mt. Prospect, Ill.), Tim Oesterlin (Jr., Rochester, Minn.), John Slick, and Mark Therrien (Jr., Spring Lake Park, Minn.) to pull within three runs heading into the fifth inning.

For all of Bethel's work to narrow their deficit, Northwestern continued to put runs on the scoreboard themselves. The Eagles scored two more runs in the top of the fifth, pushing their lead out to five runs at 13-8. Northwestern held Bethel scoreless for the next two frames, and Dustin Littlefield (Sr., Rockford, Minn.) did likewise to the Eagles as Bethel's only pitcher to prevent Northwestern runs, bringing the game to the bottom of the seventh inning.

It was in the bottom of the seventh inning that the Royals staged a fantastic comeback, starting with a two-run home run by Churchill. After a double by Oesterlin, Jay Slick stepped to the plate. Now, in the game of baseball, there are home runs that barely make it over the fence, and there are those that make it well into the bleachers or beyond the fence. Then there are home runs that people witness that they will undoubtedly tell their grandchildren about, and the story will become more exaggerated as the years pass, but the spirit will remain the same. Jay Slick's two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh was one of those home runs that would exceed any amount of exaggeration. Spectators in the left centerfield bleachers claim the ball went 20-30 feet over the flag pole, which extends a good 10 feet above the 20-25 foot fence in centerfield. Basically, there are only a couple of parks that the ball wouldn't have been out of, but even then, only Yellowstone comes to mind.

Alas, it would not be enough as the Royals rally was squelched after that, allowing the Northwestern contingent to breathe a sigh of relief. In total, 25 runs came across the plate on 28 hits. There were nine walks and two hit batters, and the game lasted three hours - a relatively long time for a seven inning game compared to Bethel's 13-inning affair with Gustavus last Saturday, which barely lasted over three hours.

In the second game, the Royals picked up where they left off in game one and put five runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning. They scored again in the second, but were then held scoreless for the next four at bats. In the meantime, Northwestern slowly chipped away, scoring single runs in the second and third innings, before pushing three runs across in the fourth to bring the game to 6-5 in favor of Bethel.

With darkness quickly spreading across the land, the Eagles tied the game in the top of the seventh, forcing the Royals to bat in the home half of the inning. Short of using glow in the dark balls and having fans turn their headlights on to light the field, the Royals won in the bottom of the seventh after Ryan Doheny (Sr., Anoka, Minn.) led off with a walk, took second base on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a fly ball to deep right field by Sean Flaherty (Jr., Shoreview, Minn.), and scored on a base hit between the shortstop and third baseman by Bjorn Anderson.

John Slick pitched a complete game and earned his first victory of the season on the hill. Bethel got seven runs on six hits and eight walks and two hit batters.

The split gives Bethel a 15-13 record overall, while Northwestern moves to 11-12 on their season. The Royals are scheduled to return to the friendly confines of Hargis Park on Wednesday for a doubleheader against conference opponent Augsburg starting at 2:30 p.m. The game will be considered an away game as scheduling difficulties prevented the Auggies from using Parade Stadium in Minneapolis to host the game.